


The Ocean's Children

by Dreamwind



Series: Moana Kamali’I [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: AU Doris McGarrett, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst, Drowning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, First Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Likeable Doris McGarrett, Love Triangles, Mermaid Doris McGarrett, Mermaid Kono Kalakaua, Merpeople, Merperson Danny, Merperson Steve McGarrett, Non-Spook Doris McGarrett, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, Pre-Slash, Teenage Drama, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2019-01-23 03:37:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12497864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamwind/pseuds/Dreamwind
Summary: [The New Improved Version!] Danny was used to being alone as a hybrid, but it was altogether different to be alone on the other side of the world from your family and friends. It isn't always fun and days at the beach even when you are a merperson living in Hawaii. But maybe, just maybe, things aren't as bad as he thinks....maybe he'll even come to love swimming again.





	1. Prologue

**Meagan’s Bay, St. Thomas; 1973**  
  
The beach was even more beautiful than Clara could have dreamed of. The water was crystal clear and such a beautiful shade of blue-green that she couldn’t believe she wasn’t just looking at a painting. The sand was a lovely shade of cream and so soft she felt like she was walking on a cloud except for the way it clung to her feet. There were trees providing just the right amount of shade for the beach goers as they got too hot, picnic tables set carefully below them. There were a couple beach bars just down the way from where she had set her bag, humans walking in and out alongside the local _Homo Undinea_. So far she had only spotted a handful of other Merfolk on the beach who were obviously not of the local tribe. But there seemed to be none of the obvious distaste and xenophobia that some tribes showed outsiders. In fact she had been surprised by just how welcoming both the local humans, descendants of former slaves, pirates, and colonists who had remained behind after the island was given back to the _Ali'i Kai_ tribe of _Homo Undinea_ that lived in these waters for centuries before the Europeans came, and the _Ali'i Kai_ themselves had been to her.

  
She supposed their friendliness to her presence, and the presence of the other outsider Merfolk, was that the _Ali'i Kai_ tribe that lived in these waters had interbred with the  Taíno native humans of the Caribbean, and the _Mami Wata Undinea_ tribe of African _Homo Undinea_ that had occasionally been brought over with the slavers, and some of the _ægirsfólk, Neráida,_ and _Jiaoren Homo Aquatica_ merfolk who had once been pirates who hide in the islands, or came over with the colonists. Most of the locals still resembled the _Undinea_ breed of Merfolk that they started from, but every now and then you could make out the shark qualities or tails that were a leftover from breeding _Aquatica_ tribes that the pirates had descended from. The _Miami Wata_ descendants were also easy to spot, still having the dark skin and curling black hair of their African ancestors. Clara was amazed by the diversity, and beauty, of Merfolk on the island and how well they all lived together in harmony. Back in Baltimore where she was currently living, it wasn’t nearly so ideal. The various tribes that had formed in the Americas after the arrival of the Europeans still tended to stay separate. The _Homo Undinea_ staying in their sections and not interacting with the _Homo Aquatica_ or _Homo Atlanteans_ unless there was no other choice.

  
This wasn’t always easy for her being that her mother was an Irish _Homo Undinea_ and her father a French _Homo Atlantean_. She was often told that she had her mothers lovely looks and her father’s overly friendly personality. She was often told her blond hair resembled the color of fine honey and her blue eyes like Forget-Me-Nots, which always made her blush. As outgoing as she was she still had a hard time with compliments, being so rare back home from anyone other than her parents and siblings. Her Mer form was a wonderful mix of both her parents heritage, but had the boisterous and friendly personality that was a hallmark of her father’s people. In her Mer form her tail looked very much like a dolphins save that the markings and color was all _Undinea_. Her tail was a lovely shade of teal with black spots and strips that covered her tail and fins. Most of her siblings were like her, a blend of the two races that made up their DNA. Though her youngest brother looked so much like their father that he alone was able to interact with the _Homo Atlantean_ tribe that lived in the area around Baltimore.

  
But here…Here she was not the odd one out. There were so many other Merfolk on the island who were a blend of one or more of the races of the Merfolk. The man who guided her to the beach was a good example. He had the rich dark skin and curling black hair of the African _Mami Wata_ tribe, but his angled, almond shaped eyes and tail gave away the fact that at least one ancestor was a _Homo Aquatica_ of the _Jaioren_ tribe. His tail reminded her of a bamboo shark in shape and pattern, but was the most startling shades of scarlet and gold that could only come from a _Homo Undinea_ decent. He was also one of the most beautiful men she had ever seen, and it was a pity since he was also very clearly not interested in partners of the opposite gender. Still, he had been friendly to her, welcoming her and giving her advice on the best beaches to go to, the best restaurants to eat in if she didn’t feel like catching her own, and he had been completely gifted when it came to braiding hair. The hair at her temples had been carefully french braided into three interconnecting braids that went back behind her ears, before shifting into regular braids, allowing the rest of her hair to flow freely about her head, while also staying out of her face. And the beads made of silver wire, pale blue larimar stone, and cut and polished pink conch shell, that capped each braid were just as lovely as she could want. His own long hair was carefully sectioned into dozens of delicate braids and capped with the same style beads as her own hair now sported.

  
She could see others on the beach who held similar looks to his own, as well as those who were classic examples of the _Ali'i Kai_ tribe with their long, smooth black hair, large, round brown eyes, golden skin, and flamboyantly brightly colored and patterned tails. All them resembled the beautiful tropical fish that had been illegally harvested from coral reefs around the world for collectors for many years despite the fact that it was a death sentence for any human who was caught harvesting a reef without the permission of the local Merfolk chieftains. There was also a couple nearby who were of the _Selkie_ tribe of _Homo Atlantean_ folk, their seal like tails a lovely shade of pale grey with darker gray spots. They were both pale skinned with the dark curling hair that reminded her of some of her Irish kin. They were happily lounging on the beach, the velvety skin of their tails still wet from a recent foray into the warm waters of the bay before her.

  
She looked away before she could be caught staring and slipped off her flip-flops before stepping onto the beach towel she had already laid out in the sand at her feet. Her beach bag was already set at the foot of the towel, open and waiting for her to shove her clothes inside so that she could make her way to the water. Looking back at the welcoming blue water she smiled and quickly pulled her white peasant shirt up over her head, leaving her in just the blue and purple stripped bikini top and her blue shorts. Those were quickly shucked and stuffed into the bag as well. Though, unlike with the peasant shirt, she did not have any further clothing under her shorts. Nearby a couple of teenage human tourist were starring at her smooth, bare skin much to their mother’s obvious disgust. Clara ignored them. The beach was one open to both human and Merfolk and as such was listed as nudity being allowed since clothes didn’t typically survive ones legs turning into fins.

  
With her smile growing wider she practically ran the short length of beach between her towel and the ocean. The water was just perfect, not as hot as in other areas of the Caribbean, but not the frigid cold of her home either. It was warm like bath water, and as she dived in she could swear she could hear the voice of the ocean welcoming her home. Her legs shifted with a swirl of water, and for a moment she was breathless as her human lungs stopped working and her gills formed by her ribs. But it was only a moment, and no longer as scary as it had been the first time she had shift between her two forms.

  
She weaved her way around the other swimmers, going further out into the bay where only a handful of people were bobbing in the water. She rose up out of the water, slicking her back out of habit, and leaned back into a gentle wave. For a long time she simply closed her eyes and bobbed along with the few humans and Megs around her. Simply enjoying the welcoming embrace of Mother Ocean, and the warm caress of Father Sun. Distantly she could still hear the cries of delight from the other people in the water closer to shore, along with the sudden SPLASH of sea birds diving into the water. It was truly a perfect moment. She wanted it to never end and wondered if she could find a job and simply move to the island. She loved her job in Baltimore of course, but she was never truly happy in the city. It was too dirty, too loud, and too full of people who hated her for being a mixed bred.

  
“Why the sad look,” came a deep, rolling voice from beside her.

Clara opened her eyes, blinking in the bright lit of the sun for a moment, before turning to look towards where the voice had come from.

Her first clear thought was that the man floating next to her was startlingly handsome. He had warm brown eyes and full lips, which were stretch in a gentle smile, which softened the strong line of his square jaw. His hair was dark, brown she would guess, and so wet with seawater that it was flattened to his skull. He had obviously be swimming beneath the surface just before he spoke. Realizing that, she glanced more carefully over him, noting the slight sheen to his skin that was common to Mers of all races, and the thin line of his translucent second eyelids.

  
“Nothing grave,” she answered, unsure for a moment in the face of the mans focused attention on her.

  
“Still,” his smile gentled further. “It’s a shame to see such a sad look on such a pretty face.”

Clara blushed and glanced away before her gaze jerked back to the man. Beneath the surface of the gently rolling sea, she could feel the glide of his pectoral fins against her hip. A soft brush, barely there, but confident and purposeful. Her blush deepened. Despite being considered beautiful herself, most Mers never gave her a second glance once they realized she was a ‘halfie.’ 

_‘But he was just underwater,’_ she thought. _‘He would have seen my tail and known what I am.’_

  
His smiled brightened, and she realized that some of her thoughts must have been easy to read. She glanced away as a shy smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

  
“I’m Clara.”

  
His smiled widened, flashing pearly white shark teeth. Instinctively she should have flinched, but there was something about him that made her feel safe at the flash of such dangerous teeth.

  
“I’m Eddie.” He grinned, the tip of his tail fins gently sliding over her own, making her blush return. “You didn’t answer my question, Clara. Why so sad?”

  
“Nothing, really.” She glanced down at the water and carefully shifted her fins so they brushed against his own, making his smile widen further and a blush to form along his cheekbones. “Just thinking about how I wish I could stay here forever.”

“Don’t like the waters back home?”

“Too cold,” she replied. “You?”

“They’re cold back home too but I’m an ægirsfólk so the cold doesn’t really bother us much. Though I can’t say I disagree with you. It would be a dream to stay here forever,” he sighed wistfully, his tail brushing a longer stroke over her own.

She swam a little closer so their arms brush beneath the waves. _‘A little summer love shouldn’t be denied,’_ she thought to herself. _‘It’s not like anyone is waiting for me back home.’_

“Where are you from,” the asked.

  
“Cape May, New Jersey. I work for the Coast Guard.”

  
“Really?” She smiled.

  
“Yeah.” He blushed as her fingertips slid against his own. “W-what about you? What do you do?”

“I work for the National Aquarium in Baltimore.”

“That’s cool.” He pushed himself through the water, circling her so that his tail was constantly sliding against her own. “You like your job?”

Clara felt drunk almost with the warm surging through her. “Yeah. Except for when the screaming school groups come through. I like kids, but sometimes I want to chuck them into the shark tank.”

Eddie laughed, the waves sloshing around them with the force of his mirth. “I’ve thought the same about some of the people we have to rescue.”

The two of them remained there, floating and circling each other for what must have been hours, Clara realized later. The beach was still crowded, but most of the humans had left by the time the two of them return to the beach. As they dragged themselves up onto the sand, Clara couldn’t help but admire the strength and power that radiated from Eddie. There was no doubt that ægirsfólk were bred as warriors when she looked at the muscles hidden in the long gray tail that took the place of his legs. It was drab looking true, nowhere near as eye catching as her tail, or the tails of the other Homo Undinea on the beach around them. But it clearly told it’s own story of strength, battle, and bravery. She could see a few small scars here and there where it looked like he had been shot, or grazed by a propeller (a common problem in urban waters). But those scars only made him more interesting to her.

When she finally dragged her eyes back up his bare torso to his face, she couldn’t help but blush at the amusement sparkling in his eyes. “Like what you see?”

  
Feeling a spark of boldness, uncommon to her, Clara gave him a sly smile and pushed up until she was leaning over him, her breasts brushing against his chest, her fin pressed against his own, and breathily whispered into his ear, “Yes.”

  
Eddie swallowed thickly and turned his head towards hers, their eyes meeting briefly before his lips pressed against hers. Her eyes fluttered shut as he angled his head just so before parting his lips. His tongue snuck out, sliding against her bottom lip and making her moan wantonly against him. She opened her mouth to him, welcoming the wet glide of his tongue against her own, as his large hands gripped her hips, pulling her more firmly against him.

  
Around them the world washed away.


	2. Chapter 1

**Cape May, New Jersey; 1987**  
  
“What do we do, Eddie,” Clara asked, fidgeting with her shirt hem.

  
Eddie sighed and looked over to where their oldest son was sitting with his back to them, staring out the window. Danny’s normally clean and styled blond curls were heavy with the normal oil that accumulated on a person’s scalp if not washed. His clothes had only been changed because his younger brother, Matt, had forced him out of the other clothes. Danny hadn’t spoken to anyone in weeks, not since the day his best friend died trying to save him from a rip tide. Eddie had tried talking to his son, but he honestly wasn’t the best about talking about his feelings. Danny was so much more like Clara and he normally simply shouted out everything he felt to the world, rather than bottle it up inside. It had them all worried that he was, for once, completely silent.

  
“I don’t know, honey.” Eddie placed a soft kiss against the stop of her head. “We’ve tried talking to him and so have Billie’s parents. He knows they don’t blame him.”

“Then why doesn’t he talk to us? Why won’t he eat…or swim,” she cried lowly.

“Because his heart is telling him it’s his fault. Survivors guilt.” Eddie watched Danny for several moments thinking about what he could do. He’d seen other Coast Guards in the same situation where they fell into the blame game after being unable to rescue someone. “Maybe we could send him away for the year? Let him stay with my brother, Laurence, in Honolulu for a while. Maybe a change of scenery will help him?”

“Maybe.” Clara looked over at her son. His shoulders were slumped and his body leaned into the window frame as much as it could fit. She knew that he was looking through his window to the one in the building opposite. The window that had belonged to Billie for the last seven years. “Yeah. Yeah, call your brother.”

Eddie nodded, placing another kiss to her temple, before heading back towards the ground floor of the house and the phone in the kitchen. He knew his brother might not be awake yet, or he could be awake but on duty. Neither of which would really be the best time to call, but he had to do this before he thought himself out of it. He knew Danny would be mad about them sending him away, but Eddie was sure this would be the best thing for him. If Danny went to stay with Laurence then he’d be in a new place with nothing to remind him of Billie. Hopefully that would be enough to at least help Danny start to deal with what happened. Despite being a Mer, Danny was still young and didn’t have his full strength. A riptide the strength that he had been pulled into would have been dangerous even for an adult Mer. The fact that even one of the boys had survived had been a miracle all on it’s own. One that Eddie was grateful for everyday, even if that also made him feel guilty for thinking it while his neighbors and friends had lost their own child.

  
Eddie picked up the phone, dialing in the long distance number through sheer muscle memory as his mind drifted back to where his son was sitting upstairs.

 **“Williams here. This better be important,”** came the angry whine of his brother’s voice over the phone.

“Sorry for waking you, little brother,” Eddie said. “But I need your help.”

  
There was the rushed sound of movement and sheets shifting against each other, suggesting that Laurence had sat up in the bed. **“What’s wrong, Eddie? Is everyone okay?”**

  
“Yes and no.” Eddie sighed and rubbed at his eyes with his free hand. “About three weeks ago Danny and his friend Billie got pulled into a riptide.”

  
 **“Fuck! Is he okay? Why didn’t you call me,”** Laurence asked, his voice rising.

  
“Danny’s okay. Physically.” Eddie paused and took a deep breath to steady himself. “Billie died, Laurence.”

**“Shit.”**

“Yeah…Danny isn’t taking it well.”

**“I’d imagine not. How can I help, Eddie?”**

“Clara and I were wondering if you’d take Danny in for a year, let him stay with you away form anything that might remind him of Billie.”

  
The was a moment of silence on the other end and Eddie was suddenly worried about what his brother was thinking. He knew Laurence loved Danny, but he also knew his brother had never had to live full time with a kid before. Let alone a moody teenager.

  
**“I’m glad to Eddie, but are you sure it’s the right move? I live on an island. He’ll see the ocean and that alone could be a trigger for him.”**

  
Eddie sighed again, feeling a bit like that was all he had been doing since the tragic accident had happened. “I know. But you know he hates his Great Aunt Mildred, he’ll refuse to go to her place in upstate New York.”

  
**“You can’t blame him for that. She isn’t exactly pleasant company on her better days.”**

  
“I know. Plus she’s getting on in years and won’t be able to keep up with him if needed. I know the ocean might be an issue. I can’t even get him in a bath without getting Matt to help me force him in. But he needs to move on and get over this before he becomes too fearful to ever get back into the ocean. He’s a Mer, Laurence! He belongs in the water!”

  
 **“You don’t have to remind me of that, brother. It’s not like I can forget what our family is.”** Laurence sighed and Eddie could hear him moving about again. **“Go ahead and get him a flight. I’ll make sure to pick him up and get him registered at Kukui High School. My partner has a son that goes there so I can ask him to shadow Danny until he’s got his way around figured out.”**

  
“Thank you. I know this won’t be easy on you either.”

 **“It’s fine,”** Laurence interrupted. **“That’s what families are for. I’d be a shitty Uncle if I didn’t at least try to help him.”**

“I know, but still…Thank you.”

**“Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and give me a call back once his flights set up. I’m going to see about getting the spare room cleaned out.”**

Eddie smiled to himself as his brother began to mutter about the pain-in-the-ass that looking for a guest bed and furniture was going to be. As much as he was complaining now, Eddie knew that Laurence was actually going to love having Danny there. Even if Danny wasn’t fully there at the moment. Laurence had always been the best of them at bringing Danny out of a funk and Laurence had always wanted a big family. Sadly, that hadn’t worked out for him so far. Eddie knew it was because his brother was gay and not willing to out himself since he didn’t want to be ostracized by his fellow police officers. He just hoped that one day his brother found what he was looking for. He deserved it, even if he had to pretend that his lover was a roommate and nothing else.

  
Eddie set the phone down and went back up the stairs. Clara was still standing in Danny’s doorway watching their son stair out the window at the empty bedroom in the building next door. He grieved with his son, though perhaps in a slightly different way. Clara looked up at him as he approached.

  
“He hasn’t moved, Eddie.”

Eddie pulled her against him, settling her head on his shoulder, and his arm over hers, holding her tight. “It’ll be okay. Laurence said he’d ready a room for Danny and get him set up at the local High School as well. His partner has a son about Danny’s age that he can ask to show Danny around. Maybe help him make some new friends.”

“Are you sure about this,” she asked with a small sob.

“No, but I think that as hard as it is to do right now, it’ll be what’s best for Danny in the long run. He needs this.”

“Okay.”

  
\- - - H50 - - -H50 - - -

  
 **Williams House, 2 Days Later**  
  
“Danny, honey, can you come here,” Clara called to her oldest son.

  
It was quite for several minutes and Clara realized that like every other day for the last couple weeks, she was going to have to go to him. He was still lost in his own mind, his own blazing grief. She had hoped that he would come out of this before they had to tell him he was being sent away. She had hoped…that they wouldn’t have to. She didn’t like the idea of not being able to help her precious baby boy. She felt like a failure and knowing that what they were doing might alienate him from them forever. Or at least for years to come. But if it meant he would look about himself and truly see again, that he would hear their voices, that he would speak to them, even if only in anger…she could live with that.

  
Danny stumbled down the stairs and into the breakfast nook like a zombie. All shuffling steps and vacant eyes.

  
Clara wrung her hands nervously as Eddie slowly put his hand on Danny’s lower back, steering him into his normal seat at the table. Danny sat with a heavy THUMP, the old wooden chair taking his weight as it always had, with nary a groan or creak. Eddie walked around him and lowered himself into the chair between Danny and Clara. He watched his son for a long time, silent as Danny, but with eyes so full of emotion that it made Clara want to cry. Her husband was having no easier a time of this than she was. She knew that he was blaming himself for Danny retreating into himself just as much as she blamed herself. Neither of them were right, but that changed nothing. The hurt was still there. A raw wound that got rubbed with salt each day that Danny didn’t acknowledge them.

  
“Danny,” Eddie started, reaching out and placing his hand on his son’s forearm. “Danny, I know that you’re hurting. That you are blaming yourself for Billie’s death.” Eddie paused, gently squeezing Danny’s arm. “It’s not true though, son. You aren’t at fault and neither was Billie. Sometimes the ocean calls us home and there isn’t anything we can do but follow.”

  
Danny’s breathing had quickened as Eddie began talking about the ocean. Clara brought her own hands up to her mouth, her eyes locked on her son’s lightly trembling form. Eddie was still talking, his deep voice a soothing rumble like the calm surf washing over the sand at low tide. She was barely aware of what he was saying as her full attention was unable to sway away from her son. His breathing was still faster than normal, his eyes which had seemed vacant only a moment ago were suddenly shinning with unshed tears. She prayed desperately to any deity that was listening that her son was coming out of whatever spell had held him captive for nearly four weeks now.

“Danny,” she whispered.

Danny didn’t look up at her. He hunched in in himself. Shoulders curling forward, head dropping down, and arms wrapping themselves over his chest.

“I know it hurts, son,” Eddie replied in a steady baritone. “I know you hurt. I know. Your mother and I are worried for you though. We need you to talk to us, son. Let us help you.”

Danny seemed to curl deeper into himself, his breathing coming in ragged pants as he tried to slip back into the statue-like state he had been in before. Clara reached forwards, grabbing one of his hands in her own and gently prying it away form his chest. “Please baby,” she begged. “Talk to us!”

As the minutes rolled by and Danny’s breathing settled back into the steady rhythm of before, Clara felt like weeping. Her little boy was hiding form her. He had never hidden from her before.

“Danny,” Eddie ran his hands through Danny’s golden curls, just as he always did when Danny got upset or scared about something when he was younger. The motion seemed to sooth Eddie more so than Danny, but it didn’t matter just then. 

Eddie sighed and gently pulled Danny out of the chair and into his lap. His son was short for his age, sure, but he was still too big for this anymore. He didn’t fit on Eddie’s lap as he had when he was still a giggling five year old.  But the warm feeling that was building in Eddie’s chest was still the same as it had been the first time he held his son.

  
“I know it’s hard for you here,” Eddie whispered into Danny’s hair. “I know you see ghosts and memories everywhere you look. But you can’t linger in the ‘what if’s’ and ‘could haves.’ We need you here, son.”

  
Danny remained silent.

“Perhaps…Perhaps you’d like to spend a year with your uncle Laurence in Hawaii?” Eddie waited for a response that, like was becoming normal, never came. “We got you a plane ticket. You can go stay with him for a while and give yourself a chance to mourn Billie and move on. He wouldn’t want you to be like this, Danny. He’d want you to be happy.”

  
“Whenever you want to, you can come home to us, Danny,” Clara tried to sooth. “You can always come home!”

  
Still Danny remained silent, though he pushed out of his father’s embrace, and stumbled out of the kitchen and back towards the hall and the stairs leading to his room. His mind was in turmoil. A part of him was glad for the chance to leave, while another was angry that they were making him leave. He was so angry! He was angry at Billie for getting killed trying to save him. He was angry at himself for needing to be saved. He was angry at Mother Ocean for taking his best friend away. He was angry that no one would just leave him alone. He was angry that he didn’t want them to leave him alone. He was angry they were sending him away.

  
Just so angry!

  
\- - - H50 - - -H50 - - -

   
 **Two Days Later; Oahu, Hawaii**   
  
Hawaii was worse than Danny thought. It was too freaking hot out, the people at the airport kept trying to shove a necklace of flowers over his head, the locals kept giving him weird looks, and there was sand. Everywhere. Who needed that much sand?

  
His Uncle Laurence looked much the same as he had the last time Danny saw him, although the man was tanner and he wasn’t wearing a tie. Which was odd because Uncle Laurence had been wearing a tie for as long as Danny could remember. In fact Uncle Laurence had explained to Danny that if you wanted to be taken seriously as a detective you had to wear a tie. A tie showed that you were a professional and that you would take the case you were working on seriously. So Danny couldn’t figure out why his uncle was no longer wearing one. Was today his day off? But no, Danny distinctly remembered his uncle wearing ties around the family home even when he wasn’t working.

  
“Hey there, Danny.” His uncle smiled and pulled him into a quick hug. “Was your flight alright?”

Danny shrugged unsure what to say. It was his first flight but the novelty of it only lasted for a short time before it wore off. After that it was just being confined into a cramped seat on a cramped little plane, on a flight that lasted most of the day. Not very pleasant over all. Of course it didn’t help either that he had been seated next to a little old lady that he would have enjoyed talking to normally, but his heart still felt like it was being squeezed in a vice, and the ringing in his ears hadn’t gone away either. All he could hear was the crashing sound of waves violently crashing into rock, Billy’s voice calling out his name, begging for the help he had, only moments before, tried to offer to Danny. She had been talking to him for the whole flight, probably about the granddaughter she had been waving pictures of in Danny’s face, but all he could hear was her asking why he hadn’t been strong enough to save his best friend from drowning when he was a Mer.

  
“Well, let’s get outta here. We can head back to my home and get you settled and we can order out tonight,” his Uncle said with a wide smile and a strong hand coming to rest on Danny's shoulder.

  
“Fine,” Danny didn’t really feel like talking. He had no idea what his parents had told his uncle after all. He suppose they probably would have told him about Billy’s death. How could they not have?

“I think you’ll come to like it here, Danny. There is a lot of good food, some great outdoor activities, and the Kukui Highs sports teams are some of the best on the island.” His Uncle Laurence glanced over at Danny as they pulled away from the airport. “Your Mom said you were on your schools baseball team this year?”

“Yeah.” 

Danny looked out the window at the passing scenery. He wasn’t mad at his uncle for what his parents had decided to do, but all the same he was still mad. He didn’t want to shoot the breeze with his uncle like he wasn’t being sent to this island as a form of punishment for not saving his friend. He just wanted to get to the room that was going to be his prison for an undetermined length of time and crawl in bed. He wanted to sink into the mattress and vanish.

“-It’ll be an adjustment for you, sure, but Danny I really think you’ll like it here.” His uncle smiled out at the road ahead of him as they drove past small homes, the cliché palm trees, and the sandy beach, further inland. “Once you’re settled we’ll have to have a BBQ so you can meet some of the people here before you start school on Monday. One of my old partners has a son your age, so maybe he can show you around the places the younger crowd hang out.”

Danny pretended not to listen, knowing that his uncle was aware that Danny was aware of what he was saying. They had played this game before, although the last time it was because Danny was angry at his uncle for leaving him and coming out here, far away from Danny and the rest of the family. Now…now, his uncle seemed happy to have Danny here, and in other circumstances Danny would be happy to be here as well. His Uncle’s phone calls and letters had been full of stories about how perfect the ocean around the island was for swimming. About the beautiful reefs filled with colorful fish, even the dolphins, orcas, and migrating humpbacks. Danny had been dreaming of coming to Hawaii to swim with his Uncle since his Uncle’s first letter. Things were different now though and Danny wasn’t here because he wanted to be. He was forced here away from his family as a blatant way of saying they no longer wanted him. That they were disappointed in him not being as strong as his Dad. That he should have been able to save himself and Billy.

  
Well, that was fine. If they didn’t want Danny then he didn’t want them.

  
“-they’ve got a few good pizza places here. We can pick one up if you want? Most of the pizza has pineapple on it though. God only knows why, but it’s not bad. Not as a good as back home, of course, but not bad. They’ve got some crazy ideas about good food. Soup with Spam in it, yeah that wasn’t so good. And their hotdogs are okay. My partner, Jack, is really fond of Puka Dogs, which are pretty popular on the island. Doubt a good ol’ Jersey boy like yourself will care for ‘em though. They sure aren’t a Nathan’s or one of old man Nester’s from the corner stall down the street, but you get used to ‘em. Even if they do try to put fruit sauce on them.”

  
Danny sighed and forced himself not to look over at his uncle. If he did, as angry as he knows he is, he’ll say something that he’ll regret later. So he pushes down the Williams instinct to rant, yell, and wave his arms like a mad man, and focuses on the scenery outside. There is a car behind them, an old VW bus with a paintjob that went out of style with the sixties, had several surfboards strapped to the top. There were several teens in the bus, more probably than he could see crowding in the front. The boy driving had dark hair, maybe black or brown, the teens were too far behind them to tell for sure. He had a strong jaw and a wide ready smile. He probably made all the girls swoon. He was certainly good looking. Handsome even. As fit as he looked from here he was probably a jock of some kind or if not he was still probably one of the popular crowd. Anyone that good looking usually made it to the top of the High School social ladder without having to try.

  
Danny had never been popular, even if his father was a neighborhood hero. Danny was too short, too stocky, and too opinionated to be considered handsome back home, let alone be popular. That didn’t even go into the problem of being a mixed breed Mer. The local Mers didn’t really mix with each other back in New Jersey, and the fact that Danny wasn’t fully _ægirsfólk, Undinea_ , or _Atlantean_ meant that few of them were even willing to talk to him, let alone be friends. The few friends he had made had all been human or the rare mixed breed like him, and all of them had been tall and dark haired. Danny just looked wrong when he stood next to them; his coloration just too bright. He had his Mother’s coloring instead of his _ægirsfólk_ Father’s darker coloration. Still Mirabelle and Billy had always liked him. They had told him he was handsome. For the longest time he hadn’t understood why he couldn’t be popular. He had figured that it had to do with how different he looked from the other kids that lived around his little corner of Jersey. Eventually he had realized that he wasn’t popular because of his mixed parentage, not because of his blond hair and blue eyes. He had been hoping to change his social position this year though. Hoping that by making the baseball team it would push him up the social ladder even if he didn’t look like the majority of the kids. Then maybe he could find a girl who would be willing to be more than just a friend. Not that he didn’t like having Mirabelle as a friend, but he would have liked being able to go to a dance with some else who wasn’t just there as a friend.

  
None of that mattered now. It had been pushed home just how much he would never fit in, no matter how hard he tried. And now he was being sent to here, to a place that looked like paradise but was going to be his own personal hell. He would never fit in here. He would be even more obviously out of place than he was back in Jersey. Even if there were a lot of Mer on the island, they likely wouldn’t want to be his friends anymore than the ones back in Jersey had. probably even less if the things he had heard about Native Hawaiians was even half true. But that might be for the best. He didn’t really want friends now. Friends were a liability. Friends could be hurt. Could be lost. He didn’t deserve friends.

  
Eventually they turned off the main road that kept passing by little coves with white sandy beaches and happy people laying in the sun and playing in the water. The VW bus with the smiling teenaged boy stayed on the road heading further along the cost and Danny felt strangely bereft. He didn’t know why he should feel that way, but he did all the same. Looking through the side mirror at the happy teens he could almost dream of being in that bus with them, laughing and smiling and being a part of something he never had before. A part of him still very much craved that sense of friendship and belonging, even if he was trying to convince himself now that he didn’t deserve them.

  
“We’re here, Danny.”

  
Danny blinked and looked at the small house in front of them. It was mostly white with bright blue shutters at the windows and a large wrap-around porch that his Mother would be so jealous of. There were large leafed plants and trees all around the house and a little stone walkway leading up to the porch that was lined with brightly colored flowers. Danny thought it was lovely and couldn’t help but wonder if his uncle had gone island crazy because this didn’t look anything like a house in Jersey. Not even down at the Shore.

  
“I hope you’ll be able to consider this little place Home. At least for now,” his uncle said with a smile as he gently guided Danny inside.


	3. Chapter 2

**Saturday Morning; Laurence Williams’ House, O’ahu**  
  
When Danny woke up he was surprised by how rested he felt. He hadn’t slept quite that deeply since before that fateful day on the beach. Some part of him had always been waiting, listening even as he slept, for Billy’s panicked voice and the looming call of Mother Ocean summoning him back to her deep blue depths. For several minutes after waking he just laid there staring up at the ceiling as he listened to the sounds of birds flying around the house and his Uncle moving about downstairs. He could still hear Mother Ocean out there, too close for comfort, and yet…there was something about her voice here that was morning welcoming. It was like she was singing, rather than Calling. She seemed happy here and it sent a thrill through him. There was something peaceful about her song mixing with the bird song and the sounds of his Uncle moving about the house. But Danny wasn’t ready to let his guard down. If he let his guard down he was only going to be hurt again.

Letting out a loud groan Danny arched his back, stretching his arms out above his head. He felt like he could just lay here all day. Did he really have a reason to get up? It didn’t feel like it. He felt lost and alone. Abandoned and betrayed by the world. He was a freak even among Meds, and now he was a murderer as well. Poor Billy wouldn’t have gone out that day except for Danny begging him to just go swimming with him once more before they had to head home and start planning for the return to school.

Danny sighed and rolled onto his side. The sun was barely up but he could already see it peaking through the trees outside his window. Some insane, brightly colored bird was sitting on one of the branches but at the sudden movement Danny made the bird let out a loud trill and flew off. Danny scowled at where it had been and grabbed his pillow and put it over his head. Smothering himself would do no good in the long run. No matter how unhappy he was he had to think about Mattie and the girls. They needed him even if no one else did. Not that he could do much for them now that his parents had sent him to the whole other side of the fucking country. He didn’t know what they thought doing that would accomplish. He was sure the people at his new High School here would hate and ostracize him just like they did back in New Jersey. It didn’t matter if he was at the Cape or back in Baltimore with his mother’s family, all the Meds seemed to instinctively know he was a hybrid and took to either being considered somewhat “nice” by ignoring his entire existence, or would be down right “rude” and simply bad mouth him to his face. Occasionally even escalating to outright physical attacks. He had come hold from school or the park on more than one occasion with black eyes, bruises, and even a broken arm once. By this point he had learned that he wouldn’t ever fit in anywhere and that he was just going to have to accept that was a fact of life. Billy and his parents had been the only people who weren’t Danny’s family who had ever accepted him.

And he had gone and ruined that by killing Billy.

Swallowing back the need to scream Danny tossed the pillow at the wall and got up. The bed gave a creak at the sudden shift of weight, but Danny ignored it in favor of another back popping stretch. Feeling a bit more limber he reached down to absent-mindedly scratch at his junk through his boxer-briefs as he headed out of the room. He doubted his Uncle would care if he spent the day in his underwear and even if he did care, Danny didn’t. It’s not like he had anyone here he needed to impress. This was meant to be his own private prison until his parents decided they wanted to truly cut all ties to him and pretended he had never been born. That they didn’t have a murderer for a son.

“Well, welcome to the morning, Danny-boy,” his Uncle Laurence chirped from the kitchen table. “I wasn’t expecting you up this early.”

Danny grumbled something unintelligible and stumbled over to the coffee pot he could see on the counter. Inhaling he thanked whatever deity created coffee and went to pour himself a cup of the dark brew before it lost that nice white steam rising from it.

“You know that’ll only stunt your growth,” came the dry comment from his Uncle.

Danny flipped his Uncle off and went back to savoring the rich aroma of the coffee. He could hear his Uncle chuckle from the table but Danny didn’t really care. God, the taste was heavenly. So much better than the sludge his Dad called coffee. Taking another mouthful Danny moaned, not caring in the least that the sounds he was making would put a porn star to shame.

“Should I come back at a better time,” came a deep voice from the hallway. “I don’t want to be walking in on something I shouldn’t see, Laurence.”

“Shut up, John,” Laurence called out. “It’s just my nephew taking in the heaven that is a good Kona brew.”

Danny turned and cracked an eye open, watching the man walk into the kitchen. He was old, maybe a few years older than Uncle Laurence. He had a sparkle of humor in his eyes but Danny could tell he was a cop. He carried himself the same way Uncle Laurence did, as if he had to be prepared at any minute to run off to track down some criminal, as if there was a man with a gun hiding around every corner. He was dangerous, this man John, but his Uncle didn’t seem worried at all. So he was likely his Uncle’s current partner or an old partner. Either way Danny didn’t care as long as the man left him and the coffee alone.

“What’s up,” asked Laurence.

“Not much.” John pulled out a chair and sat down at the table by Laurence. “The new rookie they assigned me yesterday had to bail today, one of his cousin’s just had a baby.”

“And that meant you needed to stop by here to bug me?”

John leaned back in his chair and smirked at Danny’s Uncle. “I figured you didn’t have anything better to do than amuse me.”

Danny watched the vein in his Uncle’s forehead spasm as the other man continued to smirk at him. Danny gave it about ten seconds before his Uncle did something in return for the smart ass comment and sure enough he did. Before John could catch himself Laurence had kicked his foot out catching the tilted legs of the chair and knocking it out from under the other man, who swore from his spot on the floor.

“Fuck, Laurence!” John pushed to lay back against the tiles and tried to look pitiful. Which Danny could tell him wouldn’t work on his Uncle. The man had grown up in New Jersey in a family with four older brothers and one little sister. He could dish it out and not feel remorse as only a younger sibling could.

“You were saying something, John?”

Danny found himself smiling before he could remember that he wasn’t here to be happy, he was here because he was a freak of nature and a murderer. He wasn’t supposed to be happy here. Setting his coffee down Danny walked out of the room, a sour taste filling his mouth.  
   
* ~ * ~ * ~ *  
   
“Shit,” Laurence sighed as he watched the dark look pass over his nephews face. For a moment he had seen a real smile on Danny’s face and if his sister-n-law was right, Danny hadn’t looked happy for weeks now, since the death of his best friend. He knew his nephew, like all his brothers kids, had it hard on the East Coast as hybrids. The Mer communities there were old and pretty damn isolationist, or at least as much as they could be when they were still considered part if the human country. It was one thing about Hawaii that Laurence found both surprisingly and freeing, that the Mer community here didn’t care which bloodline you came from, or if you were a hybrid. The native Hawaii tribes had been nearly extinct from inbreeding due to their isolation around the islands. They hadn’t made a long migratory trip to the South Pacific or the West Coast of the US, or even to Asia in decades. Possibly even over a century. When Mers that had come with the Europeans began migrating towards the islands, and others from Asia started to come as well, it had helped rejuvenate the population and now the local tribes were larger and healthier than they had been in a century. Laurence was sure that seeing how the tribes here got along so well would help Danny. That maybe he would even find friends.

Laurence was sure that Danny would come to love it here, if only he opened his eyes. While he didn’t seem as dead to the world as what Clara and Eddie had described, he was certainly still cutting himself off from everyone around him. Laurence had just been so happy at the idea of being able to help Danny, of making him smile again, and having Danny here in Hawaii with him where he could teach Danny to surf and try out weird new foods. Instead he found himself trapped with a teenager who was very obviously depressed and hardly willing to socialize. Laurence wasn’t really sure what to do about it. He loved his nephew, but this was a Danny he didn’t recognize.

John looked at the hallway where Danny had disappeared and back to Laurence. “What’s going on? That’s hardly your normal teenage angst if I’m not mistaken.”

Laurence sighed, “Danny’s here because of something that happened almost a month ago. Something that he isn’t dealing with in a healthy manner.”

“Hmmm.” John stood up, brushing himself off and righting the seat before sitting down. “Whatever it was that happened it must have been big. That kid looks like he’s pissed off at the world.”

“Yeah. He’s hardly said a word since he got here, which isn’t like Danny at all. Normally you have to yell to get him to just stop talking. Now I feel like I couldn’t even get him to say more than two words even if I got up in his face.”

“Give him time. Kids can hold grudges for a while. Eventually he’ll realize that you are here for him and he’ll start talking.”

Laurence shook his head. John had a son and he probably knew teens better than Laurence, but Laurence was a Williams and knew how stubborn and pigheaded a Williams man could be. “If I try to wait it out I’ll likely die of old age before he talks to me.”

“Then maybe he just needs to confide in someone closer to his own age.”

“Steve?”

“Maybe,” John nodded. “From what you’ve told me before he’s had a hard time of it being a hybrid. Maybe meeting another one and seeing that he’s welcome and accepted on the island will help.”

“Don’t shove them at each other, John. I don’t need him more pissed off than he already is.”

“Would I do that,” John scoffed. “You don’t give me enough credit, Law.”

“Oh my God! How many times have I told you not to call me that? How many, John? Are you five! That is my nephew’s name for me. You do not get to call me Law. No one gets to call me that but Danny.”

John tried not to laugh which only caused the laughter to degrade into snorting guffaws.  
   
\- - - H50 - - - H50 - - -  
   
**Diamond Head Beach, Oahu**  
  
Two days into his stay in Hawaii and Danny wasn’t sure what to make of his uncle anymore. The man seemed the same as always except he was also different. More laid back and casual than Danny had ever seen him, at least while on land. Especially when his former partner, John McGarrett was around. If Danny didn’t know his uncle better he would almost think the older Williams’ was in love with Detective McGarrett. But that certainly couldn’t be. Uncle Laurence was a regular ladies man. Back in Jersey he had a new girlfriend almost every month. There was no way he was gay. Right? Besides he thought his uncle had said Detective McGarrett had a wife and kids.

Danny was trying hard not to think of things like that because it made him all too aware that he wasn’t exactly normal either. At least by human standards. By Mer standards there was nothing wrong with mating with someone of the same gender. That was all perfectly dandy as long as you didn’t have hybrid kids like Danny. He doubted he would ever be able to have a long term relationship with anyone so it wasn’t something Danny really worried much about anyway. He couldn’t see himself ever trusting anyone else enough to tell them he loved them. Not after all that had happened, how he’d been treated.

Man, his life was some kind of cosmic joke.

Danny turned the page back and forth, not sure if he should read on when he wasn’t really taking in what the words on the page said. He knew he was using the book like a shield to protect him form the sight of the ocean so tantalizingly close. He could hear Her call all the stronger now that they were out of the house. It was only a dozen feet or so from his shady spot under the tree to where the white foamy crests of the waves were washing up on the white sand beach. He could taste Her salty breath on the air, could hear Her singing to him of warm welcoming waters, playful porpoises, and new adventures. She called to him as she always had. Only now he didn’t want to listen to her. He knew her for what she was. A liar. A betrayer. A killer.

There was no welcoming home in her blue depths.

He didn’t know why his Uncle Laurence had brought him here. Not really. He could guess. But he hadn’t ever thought his Uncle a cruel man and bringing Danny here knowing what Danny thought of the ocean was far too cruel. And yet, for brief moments here and there his eyes and heart had been drawn back to the ocean and the teal waves that were so much more welcoming than the harsh cobalt waves back home. His heart would stutter in his chest at the sight of them until he caught himself and forced himself to turn away form their siren song.

“Hey, Danny,” John McGarrett said as he walked up to where Danny was sitting in the shade. “Why don’t you go out for a swim? The weather and the water are great today.”

“I don’t swim.” Danny looked away from the older man and back to the book he had smuggled to the beach with him.

John blinked. He knew from what Laurence had said that Danny could swim, and in fact loved to swim. Just as every Mer did. “Well…I suppose if you’d like we could teach you,” he commented hoping to get some reaction out of the surly teen.

Danny sighed and looked away from his book again. “I know how to swim. I just prefer not to.”

The teasing glint faded from John’s eyes, replaced by that look the Cost Guard officers had when they pulled Danny from the riptide. “I know swimming in the ocean can be intimidating after nearly drowning-“

Danny snapped his book shut and glared at the other man. “You know nothing.” Danny shook his head and stood up, brushing sand off the back of his shorts before he stalked off to another shaded spot further away.

“Well…” John pushed his hand back through his hair. “That went well.”

Behind him Laurence was snickering. “Surely by now you’ve figured out that we Williams men are surly bastards when we’re hurting?”

John rolled his eyes and looked back to where Danny had moved to, taking in the hunched figure of the teen as he tried to hide away in the shade. It was obvious that Danny didn’t feel like he belonged and Jack knew Laurence had been the same way at first as well. And if the way he kept looking back to the ocean was anything, it was obvious the teen wanted very badly to go back in the water, but was holding himself back out of fear and remorse. Guilt was a horrible thing and he could see it clear as day in every hunched line of Danny’s body. After everything John had learned about Mer life on the East Coast, John hoped that Danny would have it a bit easier here where Mer’s interbred with both humans and other Mer races. Hopefully the more accepting culture would make adjusting to life on the islands easier for Danny, and allow him to grieve and heal.

“Yeah, yeah. You two suffer from male PMS. I’ve noticed,” John sarcastically replied, shoving Laurence away from him.

Laurence made a choked sound in the back of his throat before charging after John who laughingly dodged him and dashed off down the beach. Just because he wasn’t having any luck breaking through Danny’s wall of depression wouldn’t mean he would let his friend fall prey to it. He would keep Laurence distracted and hope that Steve would have better luck getting through to Danny.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Danny watched the two chase each other around the beach for a while from over the rim of his book. He was glad that his uncle was happy, really he was. It was just so hard to be happy with them when his whole life seemed destined to be miserable. He had always wanted to be a cop like Uncle Laurence and to have a family and kids like his Dad, but since puberty that dream seemed impossible and with every passing year it got harder to pretend that he wasn’t alone. That he wasn’t going to die alone. Everything he had ever wanted, a Badge, a house, a family, kids…it was all out of reach now.

“Howzit, brah?”

Danny blinked and tried not to scowl as he was interrupted yet again. Standing in front of him was a teenager about his own age, dripping wet and carrying a surfboard. He had dark hair that almost reached his shoulders in a wave of soft curls. Danny arched his eyebrow and tried to ignore how hot he was suddenly feeling.

The other boy laughed and tossed him a crooked smile before plopping down in the sand next to him. “Your Law’s nephew, Danny. Right?” Sticking his hand out towards Danny, the other boy smiled even wider. “I’m Steve. My Dad’s the crazy man chasing your uncle around the beach.”

Danny looked Steve over, that heat filling the pit of his stomach growing hotter, making him even more uncomfortable. Steve’s board shorts hung low on his hips revealing a flat, toned stomach leading down into the sharp jut of his hips and the wisp of dark curls just peaking up from the edge of the shorts. Forcing his eyes to stay above the edge of those wet shorts Danny reached out and quickly took Steve’s hand, shaking it firmly and trying to tell himself to ignore how soft the other teens skin was against his own. “You look like him a bit.”

“Yeah?” Steve looked back across the beach to where Laurence had finally pinned Jack to the ground and was rubbing his face in the sand. “You don’t look much like your uncle.”

“No,” he replied a streak of bitterness running through his voice. “I suppose I don’t.” Danny turned away from Steve and back to his book, trying to ignore the other boy and focus on the words on the page. He didn’t need some stranger reminding him that he was too short and too plain. He got enough remarks on his looks, both in this form and Mer form, back in New Jersey.

“Whoa, brah. I didn’t mean anything bad. It’s just he’s a lot more….uh…loco than you.”

Danny glanced back at Steve against his better judgment, taking stock of the sincerity in his eyes. Letting out a breath, Danny allowed himself to relax a little. There was something about this goof that was putting him at ease even when he was trying so hard to stay mad. He could feel the pressure of everything churning around as it surged up and out of his mouth before he could stop himself, “I’m not a pureblood like him.”

“What?” Steve looked at him startled.

“My Mom,” Danny licked his lips, looking away. He felt suddenly embarrassed. “She is a hybrid and Dad is a pureblood.”

“Oh.” The tension seemed to flow out of Steve’s shoulders. “That’s not a problem. I am too.”

Danny looked over at Steve, surprised by that revelation. He wouldn’t have even thought Steve was a Mer. “You are,” he asked hesitantly.

“Yeah,” Steve commented with a shrug. “My Dad’s human but my Mom is _ægirsfólk_.”

“I didn’t know.”

Steve shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. There aren’t many pureblood Meds left in Hawaii. Most of them were killed when the Europeans came because they refused to accept European rule.” Steve gave Danny a concerned look. “Is that, um, is that why they sent you here?”

“Not really,” he answered with a sigh. “It certainly wasn’t great back home. I only had one friend and he was human. None of the Mer tribes on the East Coast mix, so halfbreeds are shunned.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah. It really does.”

“So if that isn’t why you are here, why are you?”

Danny looked away from the other boys rather intensely open gaze. “I got pulled in a riptide and nearly drowned. My best friend went in after me to try and help and he…” Danny’s breath caught in his throat, tears beginning to form. “He d…died. I killed him.”

“It was a riptide” Steve commented in a soft, lulling voice. He pushed his hands through his wet hair. “You didn’t cause the riptide, Danny. There’s no way it’s your fault.”

“It is,” he ground out between clenched teeth. “He didn’t want to go to the beach that day. I made him go. One last time before we had to head back home to go back to school.”

“And I’m sure that he convinced you to do things with him you didn’t want to.” Steve gave Danny a soft smile. “Friends do that.”

“But he never,” Danny choked back a sob. “He never did anything that put us in danger.”

Steve glanced back at the ocean for a moment before scooting closer to Danny so he could wrap his arm, still damp from surfing, over Danny’s shoulder, pulling the blond into his side. “Maybe so. But you have to remember that even if we are Mers, we aren’t immortal or perfect. Mother Ocean is a force all Her own and sometimes She comes to love a person so much that She calls them into her heart.”

“He wasn’t a Mer!”

“Doesn’t matter,” Steve answered, squeezing Danny’s shoulder. “It just means that She loved him as if he was one of Her children and now he’ll being waiting there for you when She calls you Home at the end.”

Danny was surprised by the words. He hadn’t ever thought of it that way, and the part of him that hurt so badly was very willing to take it. He barley knew Steve and there was always the chance the other boy was simply messing with him, and would tell his Dad that Danny had killed his best friend. Which would mean that John and Steve would likely stop talking to Uncle Law and Danny, which Danny felt strangely worried about. He’d only just met them both, but the same instinctive part of him that made him reach out to Billy was singing again, telling him to reach out to Steve and his Dad. But…what if Law found out and sent him away as well? Danny didn’t know if he could handle the rejection of his favorite uncle along with the rest of the world’s rejection.

Fortunately for Danny, Steve didn’t seem to mind not getting an answer to his words and the two fell into a comfortable silence until Laurence yelled another loud challenge out. The two of them glanced back down the beach when they heard the loud cry of outrage that quickly followed. Steve’s Dad had gotten up from the sand, where he had obviously been knocked down, and was now chasing Laurence into the ocean.

“Are they really supposed to be the adults here,” murmured Danny.

Steve looked over at Danny and for a moment they were both silent before they burst out laughing, falling against each other to keep from falling face first into the sand. It felt like a damn inside him had burst open and Danny found he couldn’t stop laughing even when the tears begin to fall and it became hard to breath. The hurt was still there, a bleeding, festering wound in his heart, but for this brief moment in time it was buried under the force of nature pressed against his side, shaking and laughing along with him.

Down the beach a ways John and Laurence smiled, glad to see that Steve had been able to make Danny laugh.  
   
\- - - H50 - - - H50 - - -  
   
**Sunday Evening; Laurence William’s House, Oahu**  
  
The rest of the day at the beach had passed far more smoothly for everyone. Sharing those few words, not even the whole truth, had been enough to lighten the weight pressing Danny deeper into depression. He liked Steve, even if he was a surfer goof. He just wasn’t certain why he had felt like he could confess his shame to Steve after knowing him for less than a day. Steve was dangerous. Danny realized he was going to have to be more careful around Steve if he didn’t want to risk losing Steve like he had lost Billy.

Steve had spent over an hour trying to convince Danny to go surfing with him and when Danny told him he didn’t know how, Steve had decided to take it as a challenge to teach him. Danny had protested vehemently and had eventually had to twist out of Steve’s over eager grasp, nearly losing his shorts in the process. When he had finally turned around Steve was staring at him with a gaping mouth and blush all the way to the tips of his ears. Danny had looked away and pulled his shorts higher up his hips and ran back towards the shade, trying to pretend that they hadn’t been wrestling on the beach or that the feel of Steve’s body pressed against his had felt good enough to send fire through his blood. He had caught sight of a few girls watching them with flushed cheeks, which had only made his blush worse and he had ended up seated with his knees drawn up to his chest to hide the tent in his swim shorts from both Steve and the girls down the beach.

They had remained at the beach for three more hours after that, and Danny had come back to his Uncle’s house with a bit of a tan. John and Steve had stayed at the house for diner, the two older men arguing over who got control of the grill. Danny had just watched them confused because the two men fought just like Danny’s parents and that left him wondering what was really going on between the two. Were they lovers? If so what had happened to Steve’s Mom? Or was Danny just seeing things that weren’t really there? His Uncle was a very tactile kind of guy, and Mother Ocean knows he had no respect for personal boundaries. He had thought about asking Steve several times over the course of the night but, overtime he was about to something stopped him. When they had left Steve had promised to come by the next day to show him around town, and he certainly had.

Steve had arrived at 8:00 am that morning, and Danny still hadn’t been up. Though he woke up fast enough when the oversized halfblood had jumped on him and started tickling him, until Danny had fallen out of the bed in his struggles. The scream Danny had let out must have been at levels only dogs could hear because Steve didn’t seem worried at all, but the neighbors dog certainly heard him if it’s barking had been any indication. Steve had laughed when Danny had grabbed his shoe and threw it at him, barely missing hit Steve right between the eyes. Steve had jumped up and run out of the room at that.

That had set the tone for the rest of the day as far as Danny had been concerned.

They had spent the day wandering around downtown, Steve showing Danny his favorite restaurants, shops, and general teen hang-out places. Steve seemed to run in to at least three people he knew at every stop, and Danny wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Part of him was excited because that was proof that Steve was right and the people of Hawaii weren’t as close minded about hybrid and halfies as the mainland was. Another part of him felt strangely volatile when he saw all these strange new people hugging and touching Steve. Danny had no right to feel that way. Not when he barely knew Steve, and Steve had likely know all these other people since he was a kid. He had spent most of the day trying to reign in his instinctive need to flash his shark-teeth at the other teens who took to constantly touching Steve. In the late afternoon Steve had taken him to meet a man named Mamo, who was a local Ali’kai. Mamo was old enough to be either of their fathers, and his face seemed lit up by the wide smile that never seemed to leave it.Mamo had been one of the friendliest people Danny and ever meet and he found himself relaxing into smiles and laughter almost instantly. Steve seemed to sense his weakness and had immediately tricked Danny into getting surfing lesson from Mamo, and they had spent two hours on the beach with Mamo and Steve teaching Danny hour to paddle on the board and get to his feet. In the end he wasn’t deemed ready enough for the water, but that was most likely because overtime Steve tried to help he touched Danny, setting the blond hybrids nerves aflame. Mamo seemed to recognize that too, and after sending Steve to take the rental board back to his stall, had told Danny he could come by whenever he wanted and Mamo would give him lessons when Steve wasn’t around to distract him. Danny had blushed, shuffling his toes in the sand, and mercy nodded.

Pushing the memory of Steve’s body against his away, Danny went back to staring up at the sky. He had never seen so many stars before. Back home there were so many lights from the buildings that you could barley see any stars, but out here it seemed like the sky was just one endless field of them. So many little lights up there, countless suns and planets. Maybe even some of them had sentient life on them. Aliens could be laying in their alien grass looking up at an alien sky and wondering about his planet and what potential life could be on it. Danny had never really thought much about aliens before. Sure he had watched Star Trek reruns on TV as a kid, and sure he went to see the Star Wars movies with Mattie and his Dad, but he had never really thought that there could really be aliens. But laying out here in Uncle Laurence’s yard staring up at all those stars and thinking about how Earth had more sentient species than just humans, made the likelihood of aliens so much more possible. It was strangely reassuring, the thought that there may be people out there around one of those suns who was stranger than he was. Someone who might be going through something similar, who maybe questioned if there was something wrong with himself for looking at another boy and feeling a blaze of desire that not even the prettiest of cheerleaders could inspire.

“Danny,” called Laurence from the lanai behind him. “It’s getting late and you need to get to sleep. School starts tomorrow and we need to get you there early to talk with Principal Kalakaua.”

Danny let out a long sigh, watching the stars for another moment before pushing up from the ground. Brushing the grass off his pants he turned back to the house. He still had to shower and go through the rest of his nightly routine before he could try to sleep. Sleep that wasn’t likely to be all that comforting after being trapped at the ocean around a mostly naked Steve McGarrett for the last two days.

School. What a joy to look forward to. School and another day where he would be stuck with Aquaman. It was hard to push away the smile that teased at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t want to be happy thinking about another boy. Another friend. Thinking about Steve. Smiling at, or with, Steve was only going to lead to more problems and Danny had more than enough of those already. As if being a hybrid Mer wasn’t bad enough to deal with on it’s own. He had to deal with being abandoned by his parents. The man he had practically worshipped for as long as he could remember. The man who taught him how to ride a bike, how to throw a pitch that would make a nun weep, how to slide into home plate without getting tagged and how to treat a lady on your first date. The woman who taught him how to cook. The woman who taught him how to dance. The woman who made sure he knew how to treat a lady and protect his sisters. The woman who told him it was alright for a man to cry. All of that pressed down on him, made him feel like the weight of the world was crushing him slowly.

And then what?

He gets sent to Hawaii. To “Paradise,” to be a prisoner in his own body, forced to face the ocean and the siren song it sang on the wind all fucking day! If that wasn’t making things worse he finds his uncle as warm and loving as ever, reaching out for Danny as if Danny wasn’t responsible for the death of his best friend. His Uncle just saw the little boy Danny had been before puberty, and the ocean, had ruined his life forever. His uncle Laurence saw the boy who had followed him around all the time and had stolen his handcuffs to cuff Mattie to the banister on Thanksgiving just so Danny could get an extra helping of Grandma Williams’ sweet potatoes. He didn’t see the walking Sin that little boy had become and that hurt. It hurt so much that he couldn’t be that little boy anymore.

And now there was Steve. Steve who looked at Danny and didn’t see the living Sin either, but he didn’t see the little Danny of before either. Steve who knew the horrible shame Danny carried by being a hybrid and responsible for the death of another person. Steve who seemed to want to understand, and did at least a little. Steve with the goofy smile and the twinkling eyes. Steve who rose out of the water like some kind of teenage Poseidon and beckoned Danny back to the depths of the blue, blue heaven beneath the waves. Steve who even now burned at the back of Danny’s mind, teasing him with the delights that puberty promised that had been snatched away in a sea of self hatred and doubt.

Danny dropped to his knees by the toilet in the little bathroom connected to the room he was staying in. His stomach felt like a twisted mass of brambles and thorns trying to rise up his throat. His eyes burned and behind them a fierce pressure was forming, radiating out to his temples. Between his legs his dick throbbed at the memory of Steve rising up out of the ocean, flicking his curling hair back with a spray of water. He could feel his blood pulsing through the skin of his shaft as it stirred behind his loose pants, the throbbing pulse of it beating in tempo with the throbbing behind his eyes.

Dropping his forehead to rest against the cold porcelain of the toilet lid, Danny pressed the palm of his hand against where his erection pressed against his zipper. When that only made him want to moan, Danny pressed his palm down even harder until his felt his dick go limp and tears fill the corners of his eyes. He didn’t know what to do anymore but he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t touch himself and pretend that one day someone else would touch him like that. That maybe Steve would touch him like that. He couldn’t let himself think that because thinking it would only make him hope for it.

Danny felt the tears roll down his cheeks to slide over the porcelain. Who was he supposed to be now? He couldn’t be who his Father wanted. He couldn’t be who he had dreamed of becoming. He didn’t fit in anywhere and he didn’t have a home to go back to. What was there for him now?


End file.
